IP Venture Clinic

Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology & the Arts

Our intellectual property program is unlike any other. Our students represent real entrepreneurs in their quest to launch new businesses and products and study the latest trends in the growing intellectual property legal field.

The Case Western Reserve University School of Law IP Venture Clinic ("IPVC"), which has been described as a "new economic force," provides students with the opportunity to represent start-up companies as they develop their plans to commercialize their technology. Students will focus on a full range of business and intellectual property issues that start-ups face.

IP Venture Clinic ("IPVC") builds upon and broadens the
Fusion curricular focus by developing a platform for the cultivation of and application of legal skills necessary to support clients engaged in the process of bringing new technologies to market. Special areas of focus include Commercialization, Intellectual Property Transactions, Venture Finance and Design and Innovation.

Students, working under the supervision of CWRU faculty, represent start-up companies and entrepreneurs to develop and cultivate real-world intellectual assets, while also applying skills learned in the fields of corporate and securities law. Here, not only do the students gain hands-on experience in both business law and intellectual property law, but they provide critically important legal resources to pre-investment entrepreneurs and inventors. As a team, IP Venture Clinic students engage graduate students from the business and science disciplines to build the case of investment.

CLINICAL SKILLS

In the IPVC, students will be provided with valuable working opportunities to apply their understanding to the process of identifying, cultivating and protecting intellectual property with an ultimate aim toward structuring a fundable transaction. The key components the clinical program include:

Technology Protection: Student teams will develop a general IP protection strategy, working with supervising practitioners to design and implement that strategy. Students will be involved in performing prior art searches, drafting claims and participating in the application and prosecution process with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent offices worldwide. Importantly, the USPTO has selected Case Western Reserve University School of Law to participate in the Patent Law School Clinic Certification Pilot Program, which provides law students the opportunity to represent clients before the USPTO. Students will also secure trademark protection and advise on branding strategies.

Cultivating a Clear Business Strategy: Student teams will work with early term management to create, a fundable business strategy and plan.

Entity Structure and Filing: Student teams will create a corporate entity and draft fundamental charter documents for the company. To the extent an early governance team is put in place, the student teams will draft agreements necessary to handle stock options and other instruments necessary to compensate management, advisors, etc.

Preparing for Investor Diligence and Building A Disclosure Model: Students will prepare investment diligence materials necessary to support investor discussions. Such diligence materials will typically include background information regarding the proposed technology, team and any material information necessary to make an investment decision.

Creating an Offering: For promising deals, students will create private placement memoranda and/or crowd-sourced funding materials, as well as presentation and subscription materials necessary to close an investment transaction.

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A CLIENT?

The IPVC works with a limited number of early stage entrepreneurs who do not have the financial resources to cover the cost of obtaining legal counsel. Ideal candidates will intend on commercializing intellectual property they have created.

If you wish to be evaluated for service by the IPVC, please contact us at ipvc@case.edu. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to assist everyone who applies for our services.